The present invention relates to devices for originating tickets for use in a mass transit system and for processing such tickets. The present invention also relates to fare collection devices for use on mass transit vehicles.
Modern mass transit systems often provide their riders with a variety of options with respect to the type of ticket to be purchased by the rider. Multiple ride tickets are often sold for a lower price per ride than individual ride tickets, and the fare charged between different locations in the transportation area of many transportation systems is different. Accordingly, it is necessary for such systems to originate tickets of different values. If a multiple ride ticket is provided to the passenger, the transit system must provide a means for reducing the value of the ticket for each successive ride of the passenger.
Manual systems for reducing the value of a multiple ride ticket are well known, such as the use of a punch to remove a portion of the ticket designating one ride Also, most manual systems which provide for transfers from one vehicle to another of the mass transit system require a validation of the ticket at the end of the ride on the first vehicle, such as a stamp. Such systems generally require the supervision or attendance of a collector and also tend to delay the passenger.
Ticket originating vending machines do exist which directly respond to instructions from the ticket purchaser to produce a ticket for multiple rides, or with transfer capability, and such vending machines both print and magnetically encode the ticket. U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,942 of John E. Toth, Chandler R. Deming, and Anthony W. Cumo entitled THERMAL PRINTING SYSTEM describes an automatic ticket vending machine for a mass transit system which is provided with a thermal printing system and a magnetic transport system for encoding a magnetic stripe on a paper or plastic card. U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,705 of John B. Roes, Guy M. Kelly, Robert F. Case, and Chandler R. Deming entitled MODULAR TICKET HANDLING SYSTEM FOR USE IN AUTOMATIC TICKET PREPARATION SYSTEM describes a ticket vending machine in greater detail. Such automatic vending ticket originating machines are intended as free standing units and are provided with devices for handling money or credit cards.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a ticket originating device which operates in conjunction with a conventional farebox which is adapted to be used on a vehicle of a mass transportation system. The ticket originating device of the present invention is adapted to be mounted directly on the farebox of a motor vehicle, and is designed to convert the deposit of money in the farebox into the origination of a multiple ride ticket by the intervention of the vehicle operator.
It is also an object of the present invention t provide a ticket processing device which will respond to a previously issued ticket and modify the value of the ticket. A ticket purchased for multiple rides, or a combination ride, may then be processed in the ticket processing device of the present invention to change the value of the ticket to give effect to the present ride.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a ticket processing device which will receive a ticket of a value sufficient to cover the cost of the present ride, and will process the ticket to remove it from circulation.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a ticket processing device which receives blanks or cards in a cartridge and directly processes these blanks from the cartridge into tickets in order to minimize the likelihood of loss of blanks for tickets.